Thursday, February 23, 2012

Our Toronto Maple Leaf Deadline Wishlist

With the trade deadline on Monday and the Leafs having played a pretty bleak brand of hockey over the past two weeks, there aren't a wide variety of topics on peoples' minds.

Trades, Trades, and Trades.

There are no shortage of needs (or wants) for the Leafs right now and with the team standing on the razor's edge between playoffs and another year of spring-rate golf, it looks like Brian Burke is going shopping. In the spirit of the season, we at BCP have picked a few guys that we think the Leafs should have their eyes on this deadline.

In no particular order:

Jeff Carter
The pros and cons are all well known. Carter is a big-bodied center who puts up better than 30 goals consistently. He's also pretty strong in his own zone and can play on the penalty kill which is, despite its performance of late, still a need for the Leafs.

Unfortunately, Carter also comes with a few seemingly nagging injuries, a history of being a malcontent / trouble-maker, and a lifetime contract which will make keeping him accountable a bit of a problem.

Still, we're bullish on Carter. If he's an efficient contract for the first two-thirds of his deal, then I'm not too worried about the tail.

Evgeni Nabokov
Really, is there another goalie on the market who can cure what ails us? Anders Lindback, Josh Harding, and any other goalie who is presumed to be available are either unproven or not outperforming the guys we're trying to replace.

Nabokov has returned to form this season and is playing some great hockey for the Islanders. Just imagine if the Leafs were getting .925 goaltending. Yeah.

Bryan Allen
A former Brian Burke draft pick (4th overall, 1998), Allen has played some solid hockey with the 'Canes so far this year. Just how solid? Well, he's +2 on the Hurricanes.

He's big and fairly physical which are two words that may scare a lot of Leaf fans but don't worry, he's reasonably mobile as well. Haven't heard a lot of talk about Allen so far but he's the kind of vet who is often in high demand at this time of year.

Sammy Pahlsson
The ideal bottom-6 forward, Pahlsson has a history of strong performance in the NHL Playoffs and is a strong penalty killer.

He may not be the player he was in Anaheim during their '07 Cup run but I feel like he could add the experience and defensive responsibility that our forward corps is sorely lacking.

Those are our targets: Who are yours? Check us our at @bcphockeyblog or drop a comment letting us know what stack you're throwing your trade chips into.

No love for Nash? With Carter gone I think you have to get him. You said before that you think theres a logjam of forwards heading into next year. Thin them out for Nash or Parise or Getzlaf or maybe Brown.

Brown is definitely on a sweetheart deal but I worry about the cost of acquisition. How much better is he, really, than Clarke MacArthur? It's the kind of deal that could really blow up in our face.

Contrary to most of the Leaf Blogosphere, I'm on the 'Land a high-end guy irrespective of cost" train. I'd like to see them pursue Nash more seriously than they seem to be.

Raymond is more of what we already have in abundance, Ott is a bastard, Bernier is an expensive add and goalie prospects stress me out. Travis Moen is a guy who could definitely help but then we'd have to trade with the Habs and the mere thought of that makes me feel dirty.